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A  BROWNING  CALENDAR 


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Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arcliive 

in  2007  witli  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


littp://www.arcliive.org/details/browningcalendarOObrowiala 


A  BROWNING 


CALENDAR 


EDITED  BY 


CONSTANCE  M.  SPENDER 


NEW  YORK 


THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL  &  CO. 


PUBLISHERS 


COPYRIGHT,   1904,  BY  THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL  &  COMPANY 
PUBLISHED,  SEPTEMBER,   1904 


D.  B.  UPDIKE,  THE  MERRYMOUNT  PRESS,  BOSTON 


JANUARY 

JANUARY  FIRST 

THEN  life  is — to  wake  not  sleep, 
Rise  and  not  rest,  but  press 
From  earth's  level  where  blindly  creep 
Things  perfected,  more  or  less, 
To  the  heaven's  height,  far  and  steep. 


JANUARY  SECOND 

It  was  eve, 
%  The  second  of  the  year,  and  oh  so  cold ! 
Ever  and  anon  there  flittered  through  the  air        ' 
A  snow-flake,  and  a  scanty  couch  of  snow 
Crusted  the  grass-walk  and  the  garden-mould. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

JANUARY  THIRD 

Nine  days  o'  the  Birth-Feast  did  I  pause  and  pray 
To  enter  into  no  temptation  more. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

JANUARY  FOURTH 

Be  love  your  light  and  trust  your  guide. 

ferishtah's  fancies 

[  I  ] 


JANUARY  FIFTH 

Let  earth's  old  life  once  more  enmesh  us. 

ASOLANDO 

JANUARY  SIXTH 

So  did  the  star  rise,  soon  to  lead  my  step, 
Lead  on,  nor  pause  before  it  should  stand  still 
Above  the  House  o'  the  Babe. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

JANUARY  SEVENTH 

Ah,  but  a  man's  reach  should  exceed  his  grasp, 
Or  what 's  a  heaven  for? 

ANDREA   DEL  SARTO 

JANUARY  EIGHTH 

God  gives  each  man  one  life,  like  a  lamp,  then 

gives 
That  lamp  due  measure  of  oil:  lamp  lighted, — 

hold  high,  wave  wide 
Its  comfort  for  others  to  share!  once  quench  it, 

what  help  is  left? 

DRAMATIC  IDYLS 

JANUARY  NINTH 

My  business  is  not  to  remake  myself, 

But  make  the  absolute  best  of  what  God  made. 

BISHOP  BLOUGRAm's  APOLOGY 

JANUARY  TENTH 

Have  people  time  and  patience 
Nowadays  for  thoughts  in  rhyme? 

THE  TWO  POETS  OF  CROISIC 

[  2  ] 


JANUARY  ELEVENTH 

Work  freely  done  should  balance  happiness 
Fully  enjoyed, 

A  FORGIVENESS 

JANUARY  TWELFTH 

Govern  for  the  many  first, 
The  poor  mean  multitude,  all  mouths  and  eyes: 
Bid  the  few,  better  favoured  in  the  brain, 
Be  patient,  nor  presume  on  privilege. 

PRINCE  HOHENSTIEL-SCHWANGAU 

JANUARY  THIRTEENTH 
Love  should  be  absolute  love, 
Faith  is  in  fulness  or  naught. 

JOCOSERIA 

JANUARY  FOURTEENTH 

Patience  and  self-devotion,  fortitude, 
Simplicity  and  utter  truthfulness. 

KING  VICTOR  AND  KING  CHARLES 

JANUARY  FIFTEENTH 

Ah,  but  the  best 
Somehow  eludes  us  ever,  still  might  be. 
And  is  not. 

SORDELLO 

JANUARY  SIXTEENTH 

This  world  's  no  blot  for  us. 
Nor  blank;  it  means  intensely,  and  means  good. 

FRA  LIPPO  LIPPI 

[  3  ] 


JANUARY  SEVENTEENTH 

Bravely  bustle  through  thy  being,  busy  thee  for  ill 
or  good. 

Reap  this  life's  success  or  failure!  Soon  shall  things 
be  un perplexed 

And  the  right  and  wrong,  now  tangled,  lie  unrav- 
elled in  the  next. 

LA   SAISIAZ 

JANUARY  EIGHTEENTH 

Look  up,  advance!  All  now  is  possible, 
Faft's  grandeur,  no  false  dreaming! 


JANUARY  NINETEENTH 

Be  a  man  I 

Bear  thine  own  burden,  never  think  to  thrust 

Thy  fate  upon  another. 

balaustion's  adventure 


JANUARY  TWENTIETH 
A&.  by  the  present  life! 


THE  RING  and  THE  BOOK 


JANUARY  TWENTY-FIRST 

Who 's  alive? 
Our  men  scarce  seem  in  earnest  now. 
Distinguished  names! — but  'tis,  somehow. 
As  if  they  played  at  being  names 
Still  more  distinguished,  like  the  games 
Of  children. 

WARING 

[  4  ] 


JANUARY  TWENTY-SECOND 

Evil  or  good  may  be  better  or  worse 

In  the  human  heart,  but  the  mixture  of  each 

Is  a  marvel  and  a  curse. 


GOLD  HAIR 


JANUARY  TWENTY-THIRD 
Good,  to  forgive; 
Best,  to  forget! 


LA  SAISIAZ 


JANUARY  TWENTY-FOURTH 

Oh,  Day,  if  I  squander  a  wavelet  of  thee, 

A  mite  of  my  twelve  hours'  treasure, 

The  least  of  thy  gazes  or  glances. 

My  Day,  if  I  squander  such  labour  or  leisure, 

Then  shame  fall  on  Asolo,  mischief  on  me! 

PIPPA   PASSES 

JANUARY  TWENTY-FIFTH 

So,  through  the  thunder  comes  a  human  voice 
Saying,  "Oh  heart  I  made,  a  heart  beats  here! 
Face,  my  hands  fashioned,  see  it  in  myself! 
Thou  hast  no  power,  nor  mayst  conceive  of  mine, 
But  love  I  gave  thee,  with  myself  to  love. 
And  thou  must  love  me  who  have  died  for  thee!" 


JANUARY  TWENTY-SIXTH 
One  of  God's  large  ones. 

[  5  ] 


AN  EPISTLE 


SORDELLO 


JANUARY  TWENTY-SEVENTH 
Ere  stars  were  thundergirt,  or  piled 
The  heavens,  God  thought  on  me  his  child; 
Ordained  a  life  for  me,  arrayed 
Its  circumstances  every  one 
To  the  minutest. 

JOHANNES  AGRICOLA  IN  MEDITATION 

JANUARY  TWENTY-EIGHTH 

Doing  the  King's  work  all  the  dim  day  long. 

HOW  IT  STRIKES  A  CONTEMPORARY 

JANUARY  TWENTY-NINTH 

Prison-roof  shall  break  one  day  and  Heaven  beam 
o'erhead. 

THE  INN  ALBUM 

JANUARY  THIRTIETH 

I  find  earth  not  grey  but  rosy, 
Heaven  not  grim  but  fair  of  hue. 

AT  THE  "mermaid" 

JANUARY  THIRTY-FIRST 

Life  is  probation  and  the  earth  no  goal 
But  starting  point  of  man. 

THE  ring  and  THE  BOOK 


[6] 


FEBRUARY 


FEBRUARY  FIRST 


REJOICE  that  man  is  hurled 
From  change  to  change  unceasingly, 
His  soul's  wings  never  furled! 

JAMES  lee's  wife 


FEBRUARY  SECOND 

Praise  and  glory  of  white  womanhood. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

FEBRUARY  THIRD 

Man  should  be  humble ;  you  are  very  proud : 
And  God,  dethroned,  has  doleful  plagues  for  such ! 

PARACELSUS 

FEBRUARY  FOURTH 

While  small  birds  said  to  themselves 
What  should  soon  be  adlual  song. 

WARING 

FEBRUARY  FIFTH 

Too  much  love  there  can  never  be. 

CHRISTMAS   EVE 


[7  ] 


FEBRUARY  SIXTH 

So  sage  and  certain,  frank  and  free, 
About  what 's  under  lock  and  key  — 
Man's  soul! 

DRAMATIC  IDYLS 

FEBRUARY  SEVENTH 

Mankind  is  ignorant,  and  man  am  I! 
Call  ignorance  my  sorrow,  not  my  sin. 

•^    THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

FEBRUARY  EIGHTH 

Life's  a  little  thing! 
Such  as  it  is,  then,  pass  life  pleasantly 
From  day  to  night,  nor  once  grieve  all  the  while! 

Aristophanes'  apology 
FEBRUARY  NINTH 

Men  should,  for  love's  sake,  in  love's  strength  be- 
lieve. 

A  DEATH  IN  THE  DESERT 

FEBRUARY  TENTH 

Oh,  live  and  love  worthily,  bear  and  be  bold! 
Whom  Summer  made  friends  of,  let  Winter 
estrange! 

JAMES  lee's  wife 

FEBRUARY  ELEVENTH 

How  thanklessly  you  view  things!  There  the  root 
Of  the  evil,  source  of  the  entire  mistake: 
You  see  no  worth  i'  the  world,  nature  and  life. 
Unless  we  change  what  is  to  what  may  be. 

PRINCE  HOHEPfSTlEL-SCHWANGAU 

[  8  ] 


FEBRUARY  TWELFTH 

Love  was  the  startling  thing,  the  new: 
Love  was  the  all-sufficient  too; 
And  seeing  that,  you  see  the  rest. 

CHRISTMAS  EVE 

FEBRUARY  THIRTEENTH 

He  will  live,  nay,  it  pleaseth  him  to  live 
So  long  as  God  please,  and  just  how  God  please. 
He  even  seeketh  not  to  please  God  more 
(Which  meaneth,  otherwise)  than  as  God  please. 

AN  EPISTLE 

FEBRUARY  FOURTEENTH 

For  Spring  bade  the  sparrows  pair, 

And  the  boys  and  girls  gave  guesses, 
And  stalls  in  our  street  looked  rare 

With  bulrush  and  water-cresses. 

YOUTH  AND  ART 

FEBRUARY  FIFTEENTH 

Man  is  not  God  but  hath  God's  end  to  serve, 
A  master  to  obey,  a  course  to  take. 
Somewhat  to  cast  off,  somewhat  to  become? 
Grant  this,  then  man  must  pass  from  old  to  new, 
From  vain  to  real,  from  mistake  to  fa6t. 
From  what  once  seemed  good,  to  what  now  proves 
best. 

A  DEATH  IN  THE  DESERT 

FEBRUARY  SIXTEENTH 

And  since  I  am  but  man,  I  dare  not  do  God's  work 
Until  assured  I  see  with  God. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 
[9] 


FEBRUARY  SEVENTEENTH     . 

Life  means — learning  to  abhor 
The  false,  and  love  the  true,  truth 
Treasured  snatch  by  snatch. 

FIFINE  AT  THE  FAIR 

FEBRUARY  EIGHTEENTH 

Oh,  save  that  brow  its  virgin  dimness, 
Keep  that  foot  its  lady  primness, 
Let  those  ankles  never  swerve 
From  their  exquisite  reserve. 

PIPPA  PASSES 

FEBRUARY  NINETEENTH 

I  know  thee,  who  hast  kept  my  path,  and  made 
Light  for  me  in  the  darkness,  tempering  sorrow 
So  that  it  reached  me  like  a  solemn  joy. 

PARACELSUS 

FEBRUARY  TWENTIETH 

I  count  life  just  a  stuff 
To  try  the  soul's  strength  on,  educe  the  man. 

IN  A  BALCONy 

FEBRUARY  TWENTY-FIRST 

Faith  is  my  waking  life: 
One  sleeps,  indeed,  and  dreams  at  intervals, 
We  know,  but  waking 's  the  main  point  with  us. 

BISHOP  BLOUGRAm's  APOLOGY 
[    lO] 


FEBRUARY  TWENTY-SECOND 

Oh,  if  we  draw  a  circle  premature, 

Heedless  of  far  gain. 
Greedy  for  quick  returns  of  profit,  sure 

Bad  is  our  bargain. 

A  grammarian's  funeral 

FEBRUARY  TWENTY-THIRD 

God,  whom  I  praise;  how  could  I  praise, 

If  such  as  I  might  understand, 
Make  out  and  reckon  on  his  ways? 

JOHANNES  AGRICOLA  IN  MEDITATION 

FEBRUARY  TWENTY-FOURTH 

Such  a  spirit 
Shall  hold  the  path  from  which  our  staunchest 

broke; 
Stand  firm  where  every  famed  precursor  fell. 

LURIA 

FEBRUARY  TWENTY-FIFTH 

You're  my  friend — 
What  a  thing  friendship  is,  world  without  end! 
How  it  gives  the  heart  and  soul  a  stir-up! 

THE  FLIGHT  OF  THE  DUCHESS 

FEBRUARY  TWENTY-SIXTH 

Faith 

That,  some  far  day,  were  found 
Ripeness  in  things  now  rathe. 

Wrong  righted,  each  chain  unbound, 
Renewal  born  out  of  scathe. 

REVERIE 

[  "  ] 


FEBRUARY  TWENTY-SEVENTH 

As  man, 
With  a  man's  will,  when  I  say  "  I  intend," 
I  can  intend  up  to  a  certain  point. 
No  farther. 

KING  VICTOR  AND  KING  CHARLES 

FEBRUARY  TWENTY-EIGHTH 

Say,  does  the  seed  scorn  earth  and  seek  the  sun? 
Surely  it  has  no  other  end  and  aim 
Than  to  drop,  once  more  die  into  the  ground, 
Taste  cold  and  darkness  and  oblivion  there: 
And  thence  rise,  tree-like  grow  through  pain  to 

joy,_ 

More  joy  and  most  joy,  —  do  man  good  again. 

BALAUSTIOn's  ADVENTURE 

FEBRUARY  TWENTY-NINTH 

So,  life  can  boast  its  day,  like  leap-year. 
Stolen  from  death! 

ST.  martin's  summer 


[   12  ] 


MARCH 

MARCH  FIRST 

GIVE  yourself,  excluding  aught  beside, 
To  the  day's  task. 

SORDELLO 

MARCH  SECOND 

Truth  remains  true,  the  fault 's  in  the  prover. 

CHRISTMAS  EVE 

MARCH  THIRD 

In  March,  a  double  rainbow  stopped  the  storm. 

PIPPA  PASSES 

MARCH  FOURTH 

A  warm  March  day,  just  that! 
Just  so  much  sunshine  as  the  cottage  child 
Basks  in  delighted,  while  the  cottager 
Takes  off  his  bonnet,  as  he  ceases  work, 
To  catch  the  more  of  it. 

KING  VICTOR  AND  KING  CHARLES 

MARCH  FIFTH 

Be  sure  that  God  ne'er  dooms  to  waste  the  strength 
He  deigns  impart. 

PARACELSUS 

[  13  ] 


MARCH  SIXTH 

Be  all  the  earth  a  wilderness, 
Only  let  me  go  on,  go  on, 
Still  hoping,  ever  and  anon. 
To  reach  on  eve  the  better  land. 


MARCH  SEVENTH 
Oh,  life!  life-breath! 
Life-blood!  ere  sleep  come 
Travail,  life  ere  death. 


CHRISTMAS  EVE 


SORDELLO 


MARCH  EIGHTH 
Henceforth  I  asked  God  counsel,  not  mankind. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

MARCH  NINTH 

The  morn  when  first  it  thunders  in  March, 
The  eel  in  the  pond  gives  a  leap,  they  say. 

OLD  PICTURES  IN   FLORENCE 

MARCH  TENTH 

Oh  what  a  dawn  of  day! 
How  the  March  sun  feels  like  May! 
All  is  blue  again. 
After  last  night's  rain, 
And  the  South  dries  the  hawthorn-spray. 

A  lovers'  quarrel 

[  H] 


MARCH  ELEVENTH 

Air,  air,  fresh  life-blood,  thin  and  searching  air, 
The  clear,  dear  breath  of  God  that  loveth  us. 
Where  small  birds  reel  and  winds  take  their  delight! 
Water  is  beautiful,  but  not  like  air. 

PAULINE 

MARCH  TWELFTH 
Best  love  of  all  is  God's. 

PIPPA  PASSES 

MARCH  THIRTEENTH 

Commend  me  to  home-joy,  the  family-board,  altar, 
and  hearth. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

MARCH  FOURTEENTH 

Most  progress  is  most  failure. 

CLEON 


MARCH  FIFTEENTH 

Winter 's  in  wane.  His  vengeful  worst  art  thou. 
To  dash  the  boldness  of  advancing  March. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

MARCH  SIXTEENTH 

The  chivalry 
That  dares  the  right,  and 
Disregards  alike  the  "Yea" 
And  "Nay"  o'  the  world. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

[  15  ] 


MARCH  SEVENTEENTH 

Man  is  born  nowise  to  content  himself,  but  please 
God. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

MARCH  EIGHTEENTH 

The  woods  were  long  austere  with  snow:  at  last 
Pink  leaflets  budded  on  the  beech,  and  fast 
Larches,  scattered  through  pine-tree  solitudes, 

.  .  .  Grew  young  again 
To  placid  incantations. 

SORDELLO 

MARCH  NINETEENTH 

He  thought  I  could  not  properly  forgive,  unless  I 

ceased 
Forgetting,  which  is  true. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

MARCH  TWENTIETH 

God  has  conceded  two  sights  to  a  man  — 
One,  of  men's  whole  work,  time's  completed  plan ; 
The  other,  of  the  minute's  work,  man's  first 
Step  to  the  plan's  completeness. 

SORDELLO 

MARCH  TWENTY-FIRST 

What  is  our  failure  here  but  a  triumph's  evidence 
For  the  fulness  of  the  days? 

ABT  VOGLER 

[  i6] 


MARCH  TWENTY-SECOND 

Ivy  and  violet,  what  do  ye  here, 
With  blossom  and  shoot  in  the  warm  Spring  wea- 
ther? 

colombe's  birthday 

MARCH  TWENTY-THIRD 

Sky  laughs  blue,  earth  blossoms  youthfully. 

Aristophanes'  apology 

MARCH  TWENTY-FOURTH 

I  show  you  doubt,  to  prove  that  faith  exists. 
The  more  of  doubt,  the  stronger  faith  I  say. 
If  faith  o'ercomes  doubt. 

BISHOP  BLOUGRAm's  APOLOGY 

MARCH  TWENTY-FIFTH 

Lily  of  a  maiden,  white  with  impaft  leaf. 
Guessed  through  the  sheaf  that  saved  it  from  the 
sun. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

MARCH  TWENTY-SIXTH 

My  God,  my  God,  let  me  for  once  look  on  thee! 
I  need  thee  and  I  feel  thee  and  I  love  thee. 
I  do  not  plead  my  rapture  in  thy  works 
For  love  of  thee,  nor  that  I  feel  as  one 
Who  cannot  die:  but  there  is  that  in  me 
Which  turns  to  thee,  which  loves  or  which  should 
love. 

PAULINE 
[    17    ] 


MARCH  TWENTY-SEVENTH 

Put  pain  from  out  the  world,  what  room  were  left 
For  thanks  to  God,  for  love  to  Man? 

ferishtah's  fancies 

MARCH  TWENTY-EIGHTH 

Oft  have  I  been  keeping  lonely  watch  with  thee 
In  the  damp  night  by  weeping  Olivet, 
Or  leaning  on  thy  bosom,  proudly  less, 
Or  dying  with  thee  on  the  lonely  Cross. 

PAULINE 

MARCH  TWENTY-NINTH 

Too  much  love!  how  could  God  love  so? 

EASTER-DAY 

MARCH  THIRTIETH 

Look  not  thou  down  but  up! 
To  uses  of  a  cup, 
The  festal  board,  lamp's  flash  and  trumpet's  peal. 
The  new  wine's  foaming  flow 
The  Master's  lips  a-glow! 

RABBI  BEN  EZRA 

MARCH  THIRTY-FIRST 
Only  the  Cross  at  end  of  all. 

THE   RING  AND  THE  BOOK 


[  i8  ] 


APRIL 

APRIL  FIRST 

SOUL  that  canst  soar! 
Body  may  slumber: 
Body  shall  cumber 
Soul-flight  no  more. 


LA  SAISIAZ 


APRIL  SECOND 

But  Easter-Day  breaks! 
Christ  rises!  Mercy  every  way 
Is  infinite. 

EASTER-DAY 

APRIL  THIRD 

'T  was  Winter  yesterday ;  now,  all  is  warmth, 
The  green  leaf 's  springing  and  the  turtle's  voice, 
"Arise  and  come  away!" 

A  BLOT  IN  THE  'sCUTCHEON 

APRIL  FOURTH 

'T  is  time  new  hopes  should  animate  the  world. 
New  light  should  dawn  from  new  revealings 
To  a  race,  weighed  down  so  long,  forgotten  so  long! 

PARACELSUS 

[  19] 


APRIL  FIFTH 

Robin  has  built  on  the  apple  tree,  and  our 

Creeper  which  came  to  grief 
Through  the  frost,  we  feared,  is  twining 

Round  each  casement  in  famous  leaf. 


DRAMATIC  IDYLS 


APRIL  SIXTH 

Spring's  come  and  Summer's  coming. 

APRIL  SEVENTH 

When  shy  buds  venture  out, 

And  the  air  by  mild  degrees 
Puts  Winter's  death  past  doubt. 


PIPFA  PASSES 


REVERIE 


APRIL  EIGHTH 

Man's  work  is  to  labour  and  leaven  — 
As  best  he  may — earth  here  with  heaven. 

PACCHIAROTTO 

APRIL  NINTH 

How  of  the  field's  fortune  ?  That  concerned  our 

Leader! 
Led,  we  struck  our  stroke  nor  cared  for  doings  left 

and  right : 
Each  as  on  his  sole  head,  failer  or  succeeder. 
Lay  the  blame  or  lit  the  praise:  no  care  for  cowards: 

fight! 

FERISHTAH's  FANCIES 
[    20] 


APRIL  TENTH 

Hold  on,  hope  hard  in  the  subtle  thing 
That 's  spirit. 

PACCHIAROTTO 

APRIL  ELEVENTH 

How  April  snowed  white  blossoms! 

PIPPA  PASSES 

APRIL  TWELFTH 

The  tell-tale  cuckoo:  Spring's  his  confidant, 
And  he  lets  out  her  April  purposes! 

PIPPA  PASSES 

APRIL  THIRTEENTH 

A  man  can  have  but  one  life  and  one  death, 
One  heaven,  one  hell. 

IN  A  BALCONY 

APRIL  FOURTEENTH 
Cowslips,  abundant  birth 
O'er  meadow  and  hillside,  vineyard  too. 

EPILOGUE 
[To  PACCHIAROTTO] 

APRIL  FIFTEENTH 

It  had  got  half  through  April. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

APRIL  SIXTEENTH 

Knowledge  means 
Ever  renewed  assurance  by  defeat 
That  victory  is  somehow  still  to  reach, 
But  love  is  victory,  the  prize  itself. 

FERISHTAh's  FANCIES 
[    21    ] 


APRIL  SEVENTEENTH 

Here 's  the  Spring  back  or  close, 
When  the  almond-blossom  blows. 

A  lovers'  quarrel 

APRIL  EIGHTEENTH 

Oh,  to  be  in  England 

Now  that  April 's  there. 

And  whoever  wakes  in  England 

Sees,  some  morning,  unaware. 

That  the  lowest  boughs  and  the  brushwood  sheaf 

Round  the  elm-tree  bole  are  in  tiny  leaf. 

While  the  chaffinch  sings  on  the  orchard  bough 

In  England — now! 

HOME-THOUGHTS,   FROM  ABROAD 

APRIL  NINETEENTH 
O  the  rare  Spring-time! 

APRIL  TWENTIETH 

Is  it  better  in  May,  I  ask  you  ?  You  've  Summer 

all  at  once; 
In  a  day  he  leaps  complete  with  a  few  strong  April 

suns. 

UP  AT  A  VILLA 

APRIL  TWENTY-FIRST 

Men  are  not  angels,  neither  are  they  brutes. 

BISHOP  BLOUGRAm's  APOLOGY 
[22    ] 


JOCHANAN  HAKKADOSH 


APRIL  TWENTY-SECOND 

So  force  is  sorrow,  and  each  sorrow  force. 

THE  TWO  POETS  OF  CROISIC 

APRIL  TWENTY-THIRD 

And  —  consequent  upon  the  learning  how  from 

strife 
Grew  peace  —  from  evil — good  came  knowledge 

that,  to  get 
Acquaintance  with  the  way  o'  the  world,  we  must 

nor  fret 
Nor  fume,  on  altitudes  of  self-sufficiency, 
But  bid  a  frank  farewell  to  what — we  think — 

should  be. 
And,  with  as  good  a  grace,  welcome  what  is  —  we 

find. 

FIFINE  AT  THE  FAIR 

APRIL  TWENTY-FOURTH 

Neither  the  wind-blasts  always  have  their  strength 

Nor  happy  men  keep  happy  to  the  end: 

Since  all   things  change  —  their  natures   part   in 

twain ; 
And  that  man  's  bravest,  therefore,  who  hopes  on, 
Hopes  ever :  to  despair  is  coward-like. 

ARISTOPHANES*  APOLOGY 

APRIL  TWENTY-FIFTH 

Man  must  be  fed  with  angels'  food. 

PARACELSUS 

APRIL  TWENTY-SIXTH 

The  thing  wanted,  soon  or  late,  will  be  supplied. 

FIFINE  AT  THE  FAIR 
[    23    ] 


APRIL  TWENTY-SEVENTH 

To  me,  at  least,  was  never  evening  yet 
But  seemed  far  beautifuUer  than  its  day. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

APRIL  TWENTY-EIGHTH 

Spring's  first  breath 
Blew  soft  from  the  moist  hills;  the  blackthorn 

boughs. 
So  dark  in  the  bare  wood,  when  glistening 
In  the  sunshine  were  white  with  coming  buds. 
Like  the  bright  side  of  a  sorrow,  and  the  banks 
Had  violets  opening  from  sleeplike  eyes. 

PAULINE 

APRIL  TWENTY-NINTH 

'T  will  be,  I  feel, 
Only  in  moments  that  the  duty 's  seen 
As  palpably  as  now:  the  months,  the  years 
Of  painful  indistinftness  are  to  come. 

KING  VICTOR  AND   KING  CHARLES 

APRIL  THIRTIETH 

No,  when  the  fight  begins  within  himself, 

A  man's  worth  something.  God  stoops  o'er  his 

head, 
Satan  looks  up  between  his  feet  —  both  tug — 
He's  left,  himself,  i'  the  middle:  the  soul  wakes 
And  grows.  Prolong  that  battle  through  his  life! 
Never  leave  growing  till  the  life  to  come! 

BISHOP  BLOUGRAm's  APOLOGY 


*<bc*^ 


MAY 

MAY  FIRST 

THIS  May  breaks  all  to  bud.  No  Winter  now. 
THE  INN  ALBUM 

MAY  SECOND 

Such  a  starved  bank  of  moss! 

Till  that  May-morn, 
Blue  ran  the  flash  across: 

Violets  were  born! 

THE  TWO  POETS  OF  CROISIC 

MAY  THIRD 

And  after  April,  when  May  follows, 

And  the  whitethroat  builds,  and  all  the  swallows! 

HOME-THOUGHTS,  FROM  ABROAD 

MAY  FOURTH 

"I  sleep  out  disappointment." 
"Come  along,  never  lose  heart!" 

JOCHANAN   HAKKADOSH 

MAY  FIFTH 

Hill  and  dale 
And  steel-bright  thread  of  stream,  a-smoke  with 

mist, 
A-sparkle  with  May  morning,  diamond  drift 
O'  the  sun-touched  dew. 

THE  INN  ALBUM 
[    25    ] 


MAY  SIXTH 

And  here 's  May-month,  all  bloom, 
All  bounty. 

EPILOGUE 
[TO  PACCHIAROTTO] 

MAY  SEVENTH 

He  at  least  believed  in  soul,  was  very  sure  of  God. 

LA  SAISIAZ 

MAY  EIGHTH 

The  great  elm-tree  in  the  open,  posed 

Placidly  full  in  front,  smooth  bole,  broad  branch, 

And  leafage,  one  green  plenitude  of  May. 

THE  INN  ALBUM 

MAY  NINTH 

This  May — w^hat  magic  v^^eather! 

NEVER  THE  TIME  AND  THE  PLACE 

MAY  TENTH 

Who  speaks  of  man,  then,  must  not  sever 
Man's  very  elements  from  man. 

CHRISTMAS  EVE 

MAY  ELEVENTH 

What  is  left  for  us,  save,  in  growth 
Of  soul,  to  rise  up,  far  past  both. 
From  the  gift  looking  to  the  giver. 
And  from  the  cistern  to  the  river. 
And  from  the  finite  to  infinity, 
And  from  man's  dust  to  God's  divinity? 

CHRISTMAS  EVE 

[  26] 


MAY  TWELFTH 

There  must  be  many  a  pair  of  friends 
Who,  arm  in  arm,  deserve  the  warm 
Moon-births  and  the  long  evening-ends. 
So,  for  their  sake,  be  May  still  May ! 

MAY  AND   DEATH 

MAY  THIRTEENTH 

God  is,  they  are,  man  partly  is  and  wholly  hopes 
to  be. 

A  DEATH   IN  THE  DESERT 

MAY  FOURTEENTH 

God  .  .  .  glows  above 
With  scarce  an  intervention,  presses  close 
And  palpitatingly,  his  soul  o'er  ours. 

MAY  FIFTEENTH 

So  high  the  sun  rides.  May 's  the  merry  month. 

THE  INN  ALBUM 

MAY  SIXTEENTH 

The  frost  is  over  and  gone ; 

The  South-wind  laughs.      ^^^  ^^^^  ^^^  ^^^  ^^^^ 

MAY  SEVENTEENTH 

Love  once,  and  you  love  always.     ^„^  ^^^  ^^3„^ 

MAY  EIGHTEENTH 

Your  reward  or  soon,  or  late. 

Will  come  from  him,  whom  no  man  serves  in  vain. 

PARACELSUS 
[    27    ] 


MAY  NINETEENTH 

Ay,  here! 
Here  is  earth's  noblest,  nobly  garlanded  — 
Her  bravest  champion  with  his  well-won  prize - 
Her  best  achievement. 


PARACELSUS 


MAY  TWENTIETH 

The  year 's  at  the  spring 
And  day 's  at  the  morn; 
Morning's  at  seven; 
The  hill-side's  dew-pearled j 
The  lark  's  on  the  wing; 
The  snail 's  on  the  thorn: 
God's  in  his  heaven  — 
All 's  right  with  the  world! 


PIPPA  PASSES 


MAY  TWENTY-FIRST 

My  part  is  plain  — 
To  meet  and  match  the  gift  and  gift 
With  love  and  love,  with  praise  and  praise. 

FERISHTAH's   FANCIES 

MAY  TWENTY-SECOND 

Measure  your  mind's  height  by  the  shade  it  casts. 

PARACELSUS 

MAY  TWENTY-THIRD 
Why  live  except  for  love  ? 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 
[  28  ] 


MAY  TWENTY-FOURTH 

For  mankind  springs  salvation  by  each  hindrance 
interposed. 


SORDELLO 


MAY  TWENTY-FIFTH 

'T  was  a  sunrise  of  blossoming  May. 

s 

MAY  TWENTY-SIXTH 

May's  warm  slow  yellow  moonlit  nights! 


PIPPA  PASSES 


MAY  TWENTY-SEVENTH 

God  plants  us  where  we  grow. 
It  is  not  that  because  a  bud  is  born 
At  a  wild  briar's  end,  full  in  the  wild  beast's  way, 
We  ought  to  pluck  and  put  it  out  of  reach  on  the 
oak  tree-top. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

MAY  TWENTY-EIGHTH 
I  profess  no  other  sjiare 
In  the  seledlion  of  my  lot  than  this — 
My  ready  answer  to  the  will  of  God, 
Who  summons  me  to  be  his  organ. 


PARACELSUS 


MAY  TWENTY-NINTH 


That  May-morning,  we  two  stole 
Under  the  green  ascent  of  sycamores. 

[  29  ] 


PIPPA  PASSES 


MAY  THIRTIETH 

Here  is  Spring! 

The  sun  shines  as  he  shone  at  Adam's  fall. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

MAY  THIRTY-FIRST 

On  the  sea  and  at  the  Hague,  sixteen  hundred 
ninety-two, 
Did  the  English  fight  the  French  —  woe  to  France ! 
And,    the    thirty-first    of  May,    helter-skelter 

through  the  blue, 
Like  a  crowd  of  frightened  porpoises  a  shoal  of 
sharks  pursue. 
Came  crowding  ship  on  ship  to  Saint  Malo  on  the 
Ranee, 
With  the  English  fleet  in  view. 

HERVE  RIEL 


[    30] 


JUNE 

JUNE  FIRST 

SOMETIMES  when  the  weather 
Is  blue,  and  warm  waves  tempt 
To  free  oneself  of  tether, 
And  try  a  life  exempt 
From  worldly  noise. 

FIFINE  AT  THE  FAIR 

JUNE  SECOND 

Well  for  those  who  live  through  June! 
Great  noontides,  thunderstorms,  all  glaring  pomps 
That  triumph  at  the  heels  of  June  the  god 
Leading  his  revel  through  our  leafy  world. 

PIPPA  PASSES 

JUNE  THIRD 

Bind  June  lilies  into  sheaves  to  deck  the  bridge- 
side  chapel. 

SORDELLO 

JUNE  FOURTH 

It  is  our  trust  that  there  is  yet  another  world  to 
mend  all  error  and  mischance. 

PARACELSUS 

[  31  ] 


JUNE  FIFTH 

God  told  him  that  it  was  June,  and  he  knew  well 
without  such  telling,  that  harebells  grew  in 
June. 

PARACELSUS 

JUNE  SIXTH 

I  go  to  prove  my  soul ! 
I  see  my  way  as  birds  their  trackless  way. 
I  shall  arrive!  what  time,  what  circuit  first, 
I  ask  not :  but  unless  God  send  his  hail 
Or  blinding  fireballs,  sleet  or  stifling  snow. 
In  some  time,  his  good  time,  I  shall  arrive. 

PARACELSUS 

JUNE  SEVENTH 

June's  twice  June  since  she  breathed  it  with 
me; 
Come,  bud,  show  me  the  least  of  her  traces. 

Treasure  my  lady's  lightest  footfall! 
— Ah,  you  may  flout  and  turn  up  your  faces  — 
Roses,  you  are  not  so  fair  after  all! 

GARDEN  FANCIES 

JUNE  EIGHTH 

It  was  roses,  roses,  all  the  way. 


THE  PATRIOT 


JUNE  NINTH 

Birth-blush  of  the  briar-rose. 
Mist-bloom  of  the  hedge-sloe. 

[  32  ] 


FLtrrE-MUSIC 


JUNE  TENTH 

You  '11  love  me  yet! — and  I  can  tarry 

Your  love's  protrafted  growing: 
June  reared  that  bunch  of  flowers  you  carry, 

From  seeds  of  April's  sowing. 

PIPPA  PASSES 

JUNE  ELEVENTH 

God  who  registers  the  cup 

Of  mere  cold  water,  for  his  sake 
To  a  disciple  rendered  up, 

Disdains  not  his  own  thirst  to  slake 
At  the  poorest  love  was  ever  offered. 

CHRISTMAS  EVE 

JUNE  TWELFTH 

I  think,  am  sure,  a  brother's  love  exceeds 
All  the  world's  love  in  its  unworldliness. 

A  BLOT  IN  THE  'sCUTCHEON 

JUNE  THIRTEENTH 

Why  stay  we  on  the  earth  except  to  grow? 


JUNE  FOURTEENTH 

Lights  and  shades,  murmurs  and  silences. 
Sun-warmth,  dew-coolness, — squirrel,  bee  and 
bird. 

THE  INN   ALBUM 


[  33  ] 


JUNE  FIFTEENTH 

Breathe  but  one  breath, 

Rose-beauty  above, 
And  all  that  was  death 

Grows  life,  grows  love, 
Grows  love! 

JOCOSERIA 

JUNE  SIXTEENTH 

Flower  that 's  full-blown  tempts  the  butterfly. 
Not  that  flower  that 's  furled. 

LA  SAISIAZ 

JUNE  SEVENTEENTH 

Ah,  the  bird-like  fluting 

Through  the  ash-tops  yonder — 
Bullfinch-bubblings,  soft  sounds  suiting 

What  sweet  thoughts,  I  wonder  ? 

FLUTE-MUSIC 

JUNE  EIGHTEENTH 

Indeed  the  especial  marking  of  the  man 
Is  prone  submission  to  the  heavenly  will. 

AN  EPISTLE 

JUNE  NINETEENTH 

O  the  old  wall  here!  Plow  I  could  pass 

Life  in  a  long  midsummer  day. 
My  feet  confined  to  a  plot  of  grass. 

My  eyes  from  a  wall  not  once  away! 

PACCHIAROTTO 

[  34] 


JUNE  TWENTIETH 

Life  and  song  should  away  from  heart  to  heart. 

PACCHIAROTTO 

JUNE  TWENTY-FIRST 

But  who  clothes  Summer,  who  is  life  itself  ? 
God,  that  created  all  things,  can  renew! 

PARACELSUS 

JUNE  TWENTY-SECOND 

A  broiling  blasting  June,  —  was  never  its  like,  men 
say. 

Corn  stood  sheaf-ripe  already,  and  trees  looked  yel- 
low as  that; 

Ponds  lay  drained  dust-dry,  the  cattle  lay  foaming 
around  each  flat. 

DRAMATIC  IDYLS 

JUNE  TWENTY-THIRD 

Came  the  clear  voice  of  the  cloistered  ones, 
Chanting  a  chant  made  for  midsummer  nights. 
I  know  not  what  particular  praise  of  God; 
It  always  came  and  went  with  June. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

JUNE  TWENTY-FOURTH 

Thou  with  the  soul  that  never  can  take  rest. 
Thou  born  to  do,  undo,  and  do  again,  and  never 
to  be  still. 

LURIA 

[  35  ] 


JUNE  TWENTY-FIFTH 
So  we  battled  it  like  men, 
Not  boylike  sulked  or  whined. 

ferishtah's  fancies 

JUNE  TWENTY-SIXTH 

I  would  love  infinitely,  and  be  loved. 

PARACELSUS 

JUNE  TWENTY-SEVENTH 

Earth's  rose  is  a  bud  that 's  checked  or  grows 
As  beams  may  encourage  or  blasts  oppose. 

REPHAN 

JUNE  TWENTY-EIGHTH 

Oh  lyric  love,  half  angel  and  half  bird, 
And  all  a  wonder  and  a  wild  desire! 
Boldest  of  hearts  that  ever  braved  the  sun. 

Yet  human  at  the  red-ripe  of  the  heart. 

I 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOIC 

JUNE  TWENTY-NINTH 

Hill,  vale,  tree,  flower — they  stand  distindl, 
Nature  to  know  and  name. 

ASOLANDO 

JUNE  THIRTIETH 

He  would  not  look  so  joyous — I'll  believe 

His  very  eye  would  never  sparkle  thus. 

Had  I  not  prayed  for  him  this  long,  long  while. 

STRAFFORD 

[  36] 


JULY 

JULY  FIRST 

IS  it  for  nothing  we  grow  old  and  weak, 
We  whom  God  loves? 

A  DEATH  IN  THE  DESERT 

JULY  SECOND 

Religion's  all  or  nothing;  it's  no  mere  smile 
O'  contentment,  sigh  of  aspiration,  sir — 
No  quality  o'  thefinelier  tempered  clay 
Like  its  whiteness  or  its  likeness;  rather,  stuff 
O'  the  very  stuff,  life  of  life,  and  self  of  self. 

MR.  SLUDGE,  THE  MEDIUM 

JULY  THIRD 

Such  ever  was  love's  way :  to  rise,  it  stoops. 

A  DEATH  IN  THE  DESERT 

JULY  FOURTH 

Reap  joy  where  sorrow  was  intended  grow. 
Of  wrong  make  right,  and  turn  ill  good  below! 

SORDELLO 

JULY  FIFTH 

True  life  is  only  love,  love  only  bliss. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

[  37  ] 


JULY  SIXTH 

'T  is  July,  strong  now,  and  white  dust-clouds  over- 
whelm the  woodside. 

SORDELLO 

JULY  SEVENTH 

Man's  part 

Is  plain,  —  to  send  love  forth, — astray,  perhaps: 

No  matter,  he  has  done  his  part. 

ferishtah's  fancies 

JULY  EIGHTH 

Love,  give  love,  ask  only  love  and  leave  the  rest. 

IN  A  BALCONY 

JULY  NINTH 

God  smiles  as  he  has  always  smiled. 

JOHANNES  AGRICOLA 

JULY  TENTH 

Amid  the  noise  of  a  July  noon 

When  all  God's  creatures  crave  their  boon, 

All  at  once  and  all  in  tune. 

WARING 

JULY  ELEVENTH 

Overhead  the  tree-tops  meet, 
Flowers  and  grass  spring  'neath  one's  feet; 
There  was  naught  above  me,  naught  below, 
My  childhood  had  not  learned  to  know: 

[  38  ] 


For,  what  are  the  voices  of  birds 

—  Ay,  and  of  beasts,  —  but  words,  our  words, 

Only  so  much  more  sweet? 

PIPPA  PASSES 

JULY  TWELFTH 

To  do  little  is  bad,  to  do  nothing  is  worse. 

ferishtah's  fancies 

JULY  THIRTEENTH 

Love,  hope,  fear,  faith,  —  these  make  humanity, 
These  are  its  sign  and  note  and  character. 

PARACELSUS 

JULY  FOURTEENTH 

Be  patient,  mark  and  mend ! 

DIS  ALITER  VISUM 

JULY  FIFTEENTH 
Life's  i'  the  tempest; 
Thought  clothes  the  keen  hill-top; 
Mid-day  woods  are  fraught  with  fervour. 

SORDELLO 

JULY  SIXTEENTH 

You  never  know  what  life  means  till  you  die; 
Even  through  life,  it's  death  that  makes  life  live  — 
Gives  it  whatever  the  significance. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 


[  39] 


JULY  SEVENTEENTH 

There 's  a  woman  like  a  dew-drop,  she 's  so  purer 
than  the  purest; 

And  her  noble  heart 's  the  noblest,  yes,  and  her  sure 
faith's  the  surest: 

And  her  eyes  are  dark  and  humid,  like  the  depth 
on  depth  of  lustre 

Hid  i'  the  harebell,  while  her  tresses,  sunnier  than 
the  wild-grape  cluster. 

Gush  in  golden-tinted  plenty  down  her  neck's  rose- 
misted  marble: 

Then  her  voice's  music  .  .  .  call  it  the  well's  bub- 
bling, the  bird's  warble! 

A  BLOT  IN  THE  'sCirTCHEGN 

JULY  EIGHTEENTH 

Though  he  is  so  bright,  and  we  so  dim, 
We  are  made  in  his  image  to  witness  him. 

CHRISTMAS  EVE 

JULY  NINETEENTH 

All  pain  must  be  to  work  some  good  in  the  end. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

JULY  TWENTIETH 

Why  repine?  there 's  always  someone  hVes  although 
ourselves  be  dead. 

LA   SAISIAZ 

JULY  TWENTY-FIRST 

Abundant  air  to  breathe,  sufficient  sun  to  feel! 

FIFINE  AT  THE  FAIR 
[40] 


JULY  TWENTY-SECOND 

God!  Thou  art  mind!  Unto  the  master-mind 
Mind  shquld  be  precious. 

PARACELSUS 

JULY  TWENTY-THIRD 

Calm  sits  Caution,  rapt  with  heavenward  eye,  a 
true  confessor's  gaze. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

JULY  TWENTY-FOURTH 

Little  and  bad  exist,  are  natural. 
Then  let  me  know  them  and  be  twice  as  great. 

ARISTOPHANES'  APOLOGY 

JULY  TWENTY-FIFTH 

Let  each  task  present 
Its  petty  good  to  thee.  Waste  not  thy  gifts 
In  profitless  waiting  for  the  gods'  descent. 

PARACELSUS 

JULY  TWENTY-SIXTH 

You  know  how  weak  the  strongest  women  are. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

JULY  TWENTY-SEVENTH 

Here,  work  enough  to  watch 
The  Master  work,  and  catch 
Hints  of  the  proper  craft,  tricks  of  the  tool's  true 
play. 

RABBI   BEN   EZRA 
[41     ] 


JULY  TWENTY-EIGHTH 

All  men  hope,  and  see  their  hopes  frustrate,  and 
grieve  awhile,  and  hope  anew. 


A  BLOT  IN  THE    SCUTCHEON 


JULY  TWENTY-NINTH 

Shall  I  find  aught  new 
In  the  old  and  dear  ? 

In  the  good  and  true 

With  the  changing  year  ? 


JAMES  LEE  S  WIFE 


JULY  THIRTIETH 

What  though  I  sink,  another  may  succeed. 

PARACELSUS 

JULY  THIRTY-FIRST 

Is  this  we  live  on  heaven  and  the  final  state,  or 
earth,  which  means  probation  to  the  end  ? 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 


[42    ] 


AUGUST 

AUGUST  FIRST 

FOR  life,  with  all  it  yields  of  joy  and  woe, 
And  hope  and  fear, — believe  the  aged  friend, — 
Is  just  our  chance  o'  the  prize  of  learning  love, 
How  love  might  be,  hath  been  indeed,  and  is. 

A  DEATH   IN  THE  DESERT 

AUGUST  SECOND 

Who  breaks  law,  breaks  pa6l,  therefore  helps  him- 
self 
To  pleasure  and  profits,  over  and  above  the  due. 

THE   RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

AUGUST  THIRD 

Every  man  of  the  right  race  bears  what  at  least 
the  gods  inflift,  nor  shrinks. 

ARISTOPHANES*  APOLOGY 

AUGUST  FOURTH 

We  find  great  things  are  made  of  little  things. 
And  things  go  lessening  till  at  last 
Comes  God  behind  them. 

MR.   SLUDGE,  THE  MEDIUM 


[43  ] 


AUGUST  FIFTH 

What  I  aspired  to  be, 
And  was  not,  comforts  me. 

RABBI  BEN  EZRA 

AUGUST  SIXTH 

Could  I  retain  one  strain  of  all  the  psalm 
Of  the  angels,  one  word  of  the  fiat  of  God ! 

PARACELSUS 

AUGUST  SEVENTH 

When  a  man  's  busy,  why,  leisure 
Strikes  him  as  wonderful  pleasure. 

THE  GLOVE 

AUGUST  EIGHTH 

Take  away  love  and  our  earth  is  a  tomb. 

FRA   LIPPO  LIPPI 

AUGUST  NINTH 

We  try  and  cull 
Briars,  thistles,  from  our  private  plot, 
To  mar  God's  ground  where  thorns  are  not. 

CHRISTMAS  EVE 

AUGUST  TENTH 

God!  Thou  art  love!  I  build  my  faith  on  that. 

PARACELSUS 

AUGUST  ELEVENTH 

I  thirst  for  truth,  but  shall  not  reach  it  till  I  reach 
the  source. 

THE   RING  AND  THE   BOOK 

[44  ] 


AUGUST  TWELFTH 

Only  be  sure  thy  daily  life, 
In  its  peace  or  in  its  strife, 
Never  shall  be  unobserved. 

THE  FLIGHT  OF  THE  DUCHESS 

AUGUST  THIRTEENTH 

He  holds  on  firmly  to  some  thread  of  life — 
(It  is  the  life  to  lead  perforcedly) 
Which  runs  across  some  vast  distracting  orb 
Of  glory  on  either  side  that  meagre  thread. 
Which,  conscious  of,  he  must  not  enter  yet  — 
The  spiritual  life  around  the  earthly  life. 

AN  EPISTLE 

AUGUST  FOURTEENTH 

Innocence  often  looks  like  guiltiness. 

THE   RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

AUGUST  FIFTEENTH 

Songs,  Spring  thought  perfeftion. 

Summer  criticises: 
What  in  May  escaped  deteftion, 

August,  past  surprises. 
Notes,  and  names  each  blunder. 

FLUTE-MUSIC 

AUGUST  SIXTEENTH 

We  vi^omen  hate  a  debt,  as  men  a  gift. 

\  IN  A  BALCONY 

[45  ] 


AUGUST  SEVENTEENTH 

There  shall  never  be  one  lost  good !  what  was,  shall 
live  as  before; 
The  evil  is  null,  is  naught,  is  silence  implying 
sound; 
What  was  good  shall  be  good,  with,  for  evil,  so 
much  good  more; 
On  the  earth  the  broken  arcs;  in  the  heaven,  a 
perfedt  round. 

ABT  VOGLER 

AUGUST  EIGHTEENTH 

I  say  that  man  was  made  to  grow,  not  stop; 
That  help,  he  needed  once,  and  needs  no  more, 
Having  grown  but  an  inch  by,  is  withdrawn: 
For  he  hath  new  needs,  and  new  helps  to  these. 
This  imports  solely,  man  should  mount  on  each 
New  height  in  view;  the  help  whereby  he  mounts. 
The  ladder-rung  his  foot  has  left,  may  fall. 
Since  all  things  suffer  change  save  God  the  Truth. 

A  DEATH  IN  THE  DESERT 

AUGUST  NINETEENTH 

Truth  is  within  ourselves;  it  takes  no  rise 
From  outward  things,  whate'er  you  may  believe. 
There  is  an  inmost  centre  in  us  all. 
Where  truth  abides  in  fulness;  and  around. 
Wall  upon  wall,  the  grosS'  flesh  hems  it  in. 

PARACELSUS 


[46] 


AUGUST  TWENTIETH 

God  breathes,  not  speaksj  his  vcrdidt's  felt,  not 
heard. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

AUGUST  TWENTY-FIRST 

Only  grant  that  I  do  serve;  if  otherwise,  why  want 
aught  further  of  mc? 

SORDELLO 

AUGUST  TWENTY-SECOND 

Why  should  despair  be  ?  Since,  distinft  above 
Man's  wickedness  and  folly,  flies  the  wind 
And  floats  the  cloud,  free  transport  for  our  soul 
Out  of  its  fleshly  durance  dim  and  low. 

ARISTOPHANES*  APOLOGY 

AUGUST  TWENTY-THIRD 

What's  the  earth 
With  all  its  art,  verse,  music,  worth  — 
Compared  with  love,  found,  gained,  and  kept? 

DIS  ALITER  VISUM 

AUGUST  TWENTY-FOURTH 

Therefore  desire  joy  and  thank  God  for  it. 

ferishtah's  fancies 

AUGUST  TWENTY-FIFTH 

The  best  men  ever  prove  the  wisest  too: 
Something  instinftive  guides  them  still  aright. 

balaustion's  adventure 
[47  ] 


AUGUST  TWENTY-SIXTH 

Progress,  man's  distinftive  mark  alone, 
Not  God's,  and  not  the  beasts':  God  is,  they 

are, 
Man  partly  is  and  wholly  hopes  to  be. 

A  DEATH   IN  THE  DESERT 

AUGUST  TWENTY-SEVENTH 

I  think  the  soul  can  never  taste  death. 

PARACELSUS 

AUGUST  TWENTY-EIGHTH 

Be  love  less  or  more 
In  the  heart  of  man,  he  keeps  it  shut 
Or  opes  it  wide,  as  he  pleases,  but 
Love's  sum  remains  what  it  was  before. 

CHRISTMAS  EVE 

AUGUST  TWENTY-NINTH 

There  is  no  trial  like  the  appropriate  one 
Of  leaving  little  minds  their  liberty 
Of  littleness  to  blunder  on  through  life. 

PRINCE   HOHENSTIEL-SCHWANGAU 

AUGUST  THIRTIETH 

The  high  that  proved  too  high,  the  heroic  for  earth 
too  hard. 
The  passion  that  left  the  ground  to  lose  itself 
in  the  sky. 


[48  ] 


Are  music  sent  up  to  God  by  the  lover  and  the 
bard; 
Enough  that  he  heard  it  once:  we  shall  hear  it 
by-and-by. 


ABT  VOGLER 


AUGUST  THIRTY-FIRST 

'Tis  the  taught  already  that  profits  by  teaching. 

CHRISTMAS  EVE 


[  49  ] 


SEPTEMBER 

SEPTEMBER  FIRST 

OH, good  gigantic  smile  o'  the  brown  old  earth, 
This  Autumn  morning! 

JAMES  lee's  wife 

SEPTEMBER  SECOND 

Belief  or  unbelief 
Bears  upon  life,  determines  its  whole  course, 
Begins  at  its  beginning. 

BISHOP  BLOUGRAm's  APOLOGY 

SEPTEMBER  THIRD 

There  is  a  vision  in  the  heart  of  each 
Of  justice,  mercy,  wisdom,  tenderness 
To  wrong  and  pain,  and  knowledge  of  its  cure. 

colombe's  birthday 

SEPTEMBER  FOURTH 

The  thing  I  pity  most  in  men  is — a(5lion  prompted 
by  surprise  of  anger. 

A  FORGIVENESS 

SEPTEMBER  FIFTH 

Oh  God,  who  shall  pluck  the  sheep  thou  boldest 
from  thy  hand! 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 
[    51     ] 


/ 
I 

SEPTEMBER  SIXTH  / 

I  feel  Love's  sure  effedl,  and  being  loved  must  love! 

ferishtah's  fancies 

SEPTEMBER  SEVENItH 

All  service  ranks  t  le  same  with  God: 

If  now,  as  formerly  he  trod 

Paradise,  his  presence  fills 

Our  earth,  each  only  as  God  wills 

Can  work,  —  God's  puppets,  best  and  worst, 

Are  we;  there  is  no  last  nor  first. 

PIPPA  PASSES 

SEPTEMBER  EIGHTH 

Let  our  God's  praise 
Go  bravely  through  the  world  at  last !  What  care 
Through  me  or  thee? 

PARACELSUS 

SEPTEMBER  NINTH 

Autumn  has  come  like  Spring  returned  to  us, 
Won  from  her  girlishness. 

PAULINE 

SEPTEMBER  TENTH 

How  soon  a  smile  of  God  can  change  the  world ! 
How  we  are  made  for  happiness  —  how  work 
Grows  play,  adversity  a  winning  fight! 

IN  A  BALCONY 


[  5^  ] 


SEPTEMBER  ELEVENTH 

I  looked  beyond  the  world  for  truth  and  beauty: 
Sought,  found  and  did  my  duty. 

ferishtah's  fancies 

SEPTEMBER  TWELFTH 

I  trust  in  nature  for  the  stable  laws 
Of  beauty  and  utility.  —  Spring  shall  plant, 
And  Autumn  garner  to  the  end  of  time: 
I  trust  in  God  —  the  right  shall  be  the  right 
And  other  than  the  wrong,  while  he  endures: 
I  trust  in  my  own  soul,  that  can  perceive 
The  outward  and  the  inward,  nature's  good 
And  God's. 

A  soul's  tragedy 

SEPTEMBER  THIRTEENTH 

This  Autumn  was  a  pleasant  time,  for  some  few 
sunny  days. 

PARACELSUS 

SEPTEMBER  FOURTEENTH 

And  all  day  I  sent  prayer  like  incense  up 

To  God  the  strong,  God  the  beneficent, 

God  ever  mindful  in  all  strife  and  strait. 

Who  for  our  own  good  makes  the  need  extreme. 

Till  at  last  he  puts  forth  might  and  saves. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

'SEPTEMBER  FIFTEENTH 

Just  see  what  life  is,  with  its  shifts  and  turns! 

COLOMBE's  BIRTHDAY 

[  53  ] 


SEPTEMBER  SIXTEENTH 

When  Autumn  blusters  and  the  orchard  rocks. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

SEPTEMBER  SEVENTEENTH 

Each  of  us  heard  clang  God's  "  Come ! "  and  each 

was  coming: 
Soldiers  all,  to  forward-face,  not  sneaks  to  lag  be- 
hind! 

ferishtah's  fancies 

SEPTEMBER  EIGHTEENTH 

Night  set  in  early;  Autumn  dews  were  rife. 

SORDELLO 

SEPTEMBER  NINETEENTH 

All  men  are  men:  I  would  all  minds  were  minds! 

Whereas  'tis  just  the  many's  mindless  mass 

That  most  needs  helping. 

jochanan  hakkadosh 

SEPTEMBER  TWENTIETH 

The  world's  tide  rolls,  and 
What  hope  of  parting  from  the  press  of  waves? 
My  life  must  be  lived  out  in  foam  and  roar. 

SORDELLO 

SEPTEMBER  TWENTY-FIRST 

Ask  thy  lone  soul  what  laws  are  plain  to  thee — , 
Thee  and  no  other:  stand  and  fall  by  them, 
That  is  the  part  for  thee. 

ferishtah's  FANCIES 

[  5+] 


SEPTEMBER  TWENTY-SECOND 
Love  is  born  of  heart,  not  mind. 

PIETRO  OF  ABANO 

SEPTEMBER  TWENTY-THIRD 

Let  them  pelt  and  pound,  bruise,  bray  you  in  a 

mortar! 
What 's  the  odds  to  you  who  seek  reward  of  quite 

another  nature? 

PIETRO  OP  ABANO 

SEPTEMBER  TWENTY-FOURTH 

Knowledge  and  power  have  rights. 
But  ignorance  and  weakness  have  rights  too. 

BISHOP  BLOUGRAm's  APOLOGY 

SEPTEMBER  TWENTY-FIFTH 

The  seeming  solitary  man,  speaking  from  God, 
May  have  an  audience  too,  invisible. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

SEPTEMBER  TWENTY-SIXTH 

Truth  is  truth,  and  justifies  itself  by  undreamed 
ways. 

BISHOP  BLOUGRAm's  APOLOGY 

SEPTEMBER  TWENTY-SEVENTH 

You  are  endowed  with  faculties  which  bear 
Annexed  to  them  as  't  were  a  dispensation 
To  summon  meaner  spirits  to  do  their  will. 

PARACELSUS 

[  55  ] 


SEPTEMBER  TWENTY-EIGHTH 
She  was  adlive,  stirring,  all  fire  — 
Could  not  rest,  could  not  tire  — 
To  a  stone  she  might  have  given  life! 

THE  FLIGHT  OF  THE  DUCHESS 

SEPTEMBER  TWENTY-NINTH 

The  angels  love  to  do  their  w^ork  betimes, 
Staunch  some  wounds  here,  nor  leave  so  much  for 
God. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

SEPTEMBER  THIRTIETH 
Never  the  time  and  the  place 
And  the  loved  one  all  together! 

NEVER  THE  TIME  AND  THE  PLACE 


[    56] 


OCTOBER 


OCTOBER  FIRST 


K 


EEP  but  God's  model  safe, 
New  men  will  rise  to  take  its  mould. 


OCTOBER  SECOND 

How  very  hard  it  is  to  be  a  Christian! 

CHRISTMAS  EVE 

OCTOBER  THIRD 

Early  in  Autumn,  at  first  Winter-warning. 

THE  FLIGHT  OF  THE  DUCHESS 

OCTOBER  FOURTH 

To  make,  you  must  be  marred, — 
To  raise  your  race,  must  stoop, — to  teach  them 

aught,  must  learn 
Ignorance,  meet  half-way  what  most  you  hope  to 

spurn 
I'  the  sequel. 

FIFINE  AT  THE  FAIR 

OCTOBER  FIFTH 

But  hush!  for  you,  can  be  no  despair: 
There's  amends:  'tis  a  secret:  hope  and  pray! 

THE  WORST  OF  IT 

[  57  ] 


OCTOBER  SIXTH 

Weakness  never  needs  be  falseness. 


LA  SAISIAZ 


OCTOBER  SEVENTH 

It 's  wiser  being  good  than  bad; 

It 's  safer  being  meek  than  fierce; 
It 's  fitter  being  sane  than  mad. 

My  own  hope  is,  a  sun  will  pierce 
The  thickest  cloud  earth  ever  stretched; 

That,  after  Last,  returns  the  First, 
Though  a  wide  compass  round  be  fetched; 

That  what  began  best,  can't  end  worst. 
Nor  what  God  blessed  once,  prove  accurst. 

APPARENT  FAILURE 

OCTOBER  EIGHTH 

I  say,  the  acknowledgment  of  God  in  Christ 
Accepted  by  thy  reason,  solves  for  thee 
All  questions  in  the  earth  and  out  of  it. 

A  DEATH  IN  THE  DESERT 

OCTOBER  NINTH 

Autumn  wins  you  best  by  this  its  mute  appeal  to 
sympathy  for  its  decay. 

PARACELSUS 

OCTOBER  TENTH 

Mercy  is  safe  and  graceful, 

THE   RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

[  58  ] 


OCTOBER  ELEVENTH 

What 's  failure  or  success  to  me  ? 
I  have  subdued  my  life. 


PARACELSUS 


OCTOBER  TWELFTH 

For  I  say,  this  is  death  and  the  sole  death, 
When  a  man's  loss  comes  to  him  from  his  gain, 
Darkness  from  light,  from  knowledge  ignorance, 
And  lack  of  love  from  love  made  manifest. 

A  DEATH  IN  THE  DESERT 

OCTOBER  THIRTEENTH 

A  great  is  better  than  a  little  aim. 

colombe's  birthday 

OCTOBER  FOURTEENTH 

Flovjrers'  departure,  frost's  arrival. 

LA  saisiaz 

OCTOBER  FIFTEENTH 

In  short,  God's  service  is  established  here 
As  he  determines  fit,  and  not  your  way. 
And  this  you  cannot  brook.  Such  discontent 
Is  weak.  Renounce  all  creatureship  at  once! 

PARACELSUS 

OCTpBER  SIXTEENTH 

In  this  world,  who  can  do  a  thing,  will  not; 
And  who  would  do  it,  cannot,  I  perceive. 

ANDREA  DEL  SARTO 

[  59  ] 


OCTOBER  SEVENTEENTH 

Days  decrease,  and  Autumn  grows,  Autumn  in 
everything. 

ANDREA  DEL  SARTO 

OCTOBER  EIGHTEENTH 

In  his  face  is  light,  but  in  his  shadow  heahng  too. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

OCTOBER  NINETEENTH 

Truth  is  the  strong  thing.  Let  man's  life  be  true! 

IN  A  BALCONY 

OCTOBER  TWENTIETH 

Prayers  move  God.  Threats  and  nothing  else  move 
men. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

OCTOBER  TWENTY-FIRST 

For  Autumn  was  the  season,  red  the  sky. 

ARISTOPHANES*  APOLOGY 

OCTOBER  TWENTY-SECOND 

I  press  God's  lamp 
Close  to  my  breast;  its  splendour,  soon  or  late. 
Will  pierce  the  gloom:  I  shall  emerge  one  day. 

PARACELSUS 

OCTOBER  TWENTY-THIRD 

Well,  my  life  reviewed  fairly  leaves  more  hope  than 
discouragement. 

PRINCE  HOHENSTIEL-SCHWANGAU 
[60] 


OCTOBER  TWENTY-FOURTH 

I  will  be  happy  if  but  for  once: 
Only  help  me,  Autumn  weather, 

Me  and  my  cares  to  screen,  ensconce 
In  luxury's  sofa-lap  of  leather! 


ASOLANDO 


OCTOBER  TWENTY-FIFTH 

I  was  ever  a  fighter,  so — one  fight  more. 
The  best  and  the  last! 

PROSPICE 

OCTOBER  TWENTY-SIXTH 

One  declining  Autumn  day  — 
Few  birds  about  the  heaven  chill  and  gray. 
No  wind  that  cared  trouble  the  tacit  woods. 

SORDELLO 

OCTOBER  TWENTY-SEVENTH 

Let  friend  trust  friend,  and  love  demand  love's  like. 


OCTOBER  TWENTY-EIGHTH 

Never  shall  I  believe  any  two  souls  were  made 
Similar;  granting,  then,  each  soul  of  every  grade 
Was  meant  to  be  itself,  prove  in  itself  complete 
And,  in  completion,  good, — nay,  best  o'  the  kind. 

FIFINE  AT  THE  FAIR 


[6i  ] 


OCTOBER  TWENTY-NINTH 
Honour  is  a  gift  of  God  to  man, 
Precious  beyond  compare,  which  natural  sense 
Of  human  re6litude  and  purity,  .  .  . 
Brooks  no  touch. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

OCTOBER  THIRTIETH 

I  braved  sorrow,  courted  joy,  to  just  one  end: 
Namely,  that  just  the  creature  I  was  bound 
To  be,  I  should  become,  nor  thwart  at  all 
God's  purpose  in  creation. 

PRINCE  HOHENSTIEL-SCHWANGAU 

OCTOBER  THIRTY-FIRST 

Just  so  much  work  as  keeps  the  brain  from  rust; 
Just  so  much  play  as  lets  the  heart  expand  — 
Honouring  God,  and  serving  man,  I  say  — 
These  are  reality  and  all  else  fluff. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 


[62    ] 


NOVEMBER 

NOVEMBER  FIRST 

A  VIRTUE  golden  through  and  through, 
Sufficient  to  vindicate  itself 
And  prove  its  w^orth  at  a  moment's  view! 

THE  STATUE  AND  THE  BUST 

NOVEMBER  SECOND 

God  is  soul,  souls  I  and  thou: 
With  souk  should  souls  have  place. 

ferishtah's  fancies 

NOVEMBER  THIRD 

God  is,  and  the  soul  is,  and  as  certain  after  death 

shall  be. 

la  saisiaz 

NOVEMBER  FOURTH 

Be  sure  they  sleep  not  whom  God  needs!  Nor  fear 
Their  holding  light  his  charge,  when  every  hour 
That  finds  that  charge  delayed,  is  a  new  death. 

PARACELSUS 

NOVEMBER  FIFTH 

We  all  aspire  to  heaven:  and  there  lies  heaven 

above  us. 

A  soul's  tragedy 
[63  ] 


NOVEMBER  SIXTH 

That  which  seems  worst  to  man  to  God  is  best, 
So,  because  God  ordains  it,  best  to  man. 
Yet  man — the  foolish,  weak  and  wicked — prays! 
Urges  "My  best  were  better,  didst  thou  know!" 

ferishtah's  fancies 

NOVEMBER  SEVENTH 

The  world  lies  under  me:  and  nowhere  I  deteft 
So  great  a  gift  as  this — God's  own  —  of  human  life. 
Shall  the  dead  praise  thee?  No!  The  whole  live 

world  is  rife, 
God,  with  thy  glory! 

DRAMATIC  IDYLS 

NOVEMBER  EIGHTH 

That  low  man  seeks  a  little  thing  to  do, 

Sees  it  and  does  it: 
This  high  man,  with  a  great  thing  to  pursue, 
Dies  ere  he  knows  it. 

A  grammarian's  funeral 

NOVEMBER  NINTH 

Through  such  souls  alone, 
God,  stooping,  shows  sufficient  of  his  light 
For  us  in  the  dark  to  rise  by. 

the  ring  and  the  book 

NOVEMBER  TENTH 

When  is  man  strong  until  he  feels  alone! 

colombb's  birthday 
[64  ] 


NOVEMBER  ELEVENTH 


No!  youth  once  gone  is  gone: 

Deeds,  let  escape,  are  never  to  be  done. 


NOVEMBER  TWELFTH 

The  world  and  life 's  too  big  to  pass  for  a  dream. 

FRA  LIPPO  LIPPI 

NOVEMBER  THIRTEENTH 

Mere  decay  produces  richer  life. 

SORDELLO 

NOVEMBER  FOURTEENTH 

At  worst  I  have  performed  my  share  of  the  task: 
The  rest  is  God's  concern. 

PARACELSUS 

NOVEMBER  FIFTEENTH 

And  then  know  that  this  curse  will  come  on  us, 
To  see  our  idols  perish. 

PAULINE 

NOVEMBER  SIXTEENTH 

Knowing  ourselves,  ovg:  world,  our  task  so  great, 
Our  time  so  brief,  't  is  clear  if  we  refuse 
The  means  so  limited,  the  tools  so  rude 
To  execute  our  purpose,  life  will  fleet. 

PARACELSUS 


[65  ] 


NOVEMBER  SEVENTEENTH 

The  common  problem,  yours,  mine,  every  one's, 
Is — not  to  fancy  what  were  fair  in  life 
Provided  it  could  be,  —  but,  finding  first 
What  may  be,  then  find  how  to  make  it  fair 
Up  to  our  means:  a  very  different  thing! 

ARISTOPHANES*  APOLOGY 

NOVEMBER  EIGHTEENTH 

Things  learned   on   earth  we  shall   pra6tise   in 
heaven. 

OLD  PICTURES  IN  FLORENCE 

NOVEMBER  NINETEENTH 

Love  which,  on  earth,  amid  all  the  shows  of  it, 
Has  ever  been  seen  the  sole  good  of  Hfe  in  it, 
The  love,  ever  growing  there,  spite  of  the  strife 
in  it, 

Shall  arise,  made  perfedl,  from  death's  repose  of  it. 

And  I  shall  behold  thee  face  to  face, 

O  God,  and  in  thy  light  retrace 

How  in  all  I  loved  here,  still  wast  thou! 

CHRISTMAS  EVE 

NOVEMBER  TWENTIETH 

The  thing  that  seems 
Mere  misery,  under  human  schemes, 
Becomes,  regarded  by  the  light 
Of  love,  as  very  near,  or  quite 
As  good  a  gift  as  joy  before. 

CHRISTMAS  EVE 

[66] 


NOVEMBER  TWENTY-FIRST 

Calm  commonplace  which  neither  missed,  nor  hit 
Inch-high,  inch-low,  the  placid  mark  proposed. 

CHRISTOPHER  SMART 

NOVEMBER  TWENTY-SECOND 

That  Time,  who  in  the  twilight  comes  to  mend 
All  the  fantastic  day's  caprice. 

STRAFFORD 

NOVEMBER  TWENTY-THIRD 

And  pity  is  so  near  to  love,  and  love  so  neighbourly 
to  all  unreasonableness. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

NOVEMBER  TWENTY-FOURTH 
Then,  welcome  each  rebuflF 
That  turns  earth's  smoothness  rough. 
Each  sting  that  bids  nor  sit  nor  stand  but  go! 
Be  our  joys  three-parts  pain ! 
Strive,  and  hold  cheap  the  strain; 
Learn,  nor  account  the  pang;  dare,  never  grudge 
the  throe! 

RABBI  BEN  EZRA 

NOVEMBER  TWENTY-FIFTH 

Oh,  faith !  where  art  thou  flown  from  out  the  world? 
Already  on  what  an  age  of  doubt  we  fall ! 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 


[67] 


NOVEMBER  TWENTY-SIXTH 

Yet  God  is  good :  I  started  sure  of  that, 
And  why  dispute  it  now? 

PARACELSUS 

NOVEMBER  TWENTY-SEVENTH 

And  so  I  hve,  you  see, 
Go  through  the  world,  try,  prove,  rejeft, 
Prefer,  still  struggling  to  efFedl 
My  warfare;  happy  that  I  can 
Be  crossed  and  thwarted  as  a  man, 
Not  left  in  God's  contempt  apart. 
With  ghastly  smooth  life,  dead  at  heart. 

CHRISTMAS  EVE 

NOVEMBER  TWENTY-EIGHTH 

Well,  now,  there  is  nothing  in  the  world  or  out  of 
it  good,  except  truth. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

NOVEMBER  TWENTY-NINTH 

Hadst  thou  learned 
What  God  accounteth  happiness. 
Thou  wouldst  not  find  it  hard  to  guess 
What  hell  may  be  his  punishment 
For  those  who  doubt  if  God  invent 
Better  than  they. 

CHRISTMAS  EVE 


[68  ] 


NOVEMBER  THIRTIETH 

Since  I,  whom  Christ's  mouth  taught,  was  bidden 

teach, 
I  went,  for  many  years,  about  the  world, 
Saying  "It  was  so;  so  I  heard  and  saw." 

A  DEATH  IN  THE  DESERT 


[69    ] 


DECEMBER 

DECEMBER  FIRST 

BUT  I  have  always  had  one  lode-star;  now, 
As  I  look  back,  I  see  that  I  have  halted 
Or  hastened  as  I  looked  towards  that  star — 
A  need,  a  trust,  a  yearning  after  God. 

PAULINE 

DECEMBER  SECOND 

Young,  all  lay  in  dispute;  I  shall  know,  being  old. 

RABBI  BEN  EZRA 

DECEMBER  THIRD 

And  the  sin  I  impute  to  each  frustrate  ghost 
Is — the  unlit  lamp  and  the  ungirt  loin. 

THE  STATUE  AND  THE  BUST 

DECEMBER  FOURTH 

Only  grant  my  soul  may  carry  high  through  death 
her  cup  unspilled. 

LA  SAISIAZ 

DECEMBER  FIFTH 

Praise  the  good  log  fire;  Winter  howls  without! 
Crowd  closer  let  us! 

THE  TWO  POETS  OF  CROISIC 
[71     ] 


DECEMBER  SIXTH 

So  death  completes  living,  shows  life  in  its  truth. 

APOLLO  AND  THE  FATES 

DECEMBER  SEVENTH 

Nay,  after  earth,  comes  peace  born  out  of  life-long 
battle? 

BERNARD  OB  MANDEVILLE 

DECEMBER  EIGHTH 

What  would  one  have? 
In  heaven,  perhaps,  new  chances,  one  more  chance. 

ANDREA  DEL  SARTO 

DECEMBER  NINTH 

What's  time?  Leave  Now  for  dogs  and  apes! 

Man  has  Forever. 

A  grammarian's  funeral 

DECEMBER  TENTH 

Let  a  man  contend  to  the  uttermost 
For  his  life's  set  prize,  be  it  what  it  will! 

THE  STATUE  AND  THE  BUST 

DECEMBER  ELEVENTH 

Fail  I  alone,  in  words  and  deeds? 
Why,  all  men  strive  and  who  succeeds? 

THE  LAST  ride  TOGETHER 


[7»  ] 


DECEMBER  TWELFTH 

But  God,  though  lam  nothing,  be  thou  all! 

THE  INN  ALBUM 

DECEMBER  THIRTEENTH 

So,  trial  after  trial  past. 

Wilt  thou  fall  at  the  very  last 

Breathless,  half  in  trance 

With  the  thrill  of  the  great  deliverance. 

THE  FLIGHT  OF  THE  DUCHESS 

DECEMBER  FOURTEENTH 

Let  us  leave  God  alone.  Why  should  I  doubt  he 
will  explain  in  time? 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

DECEMBER  FIFTEENTH 

The  bee  with  his  comb, 
The  mouse  at  her  dray, 
The  grub  in  his  tomb, 
Wile  winter  away. 

DECEMBER  SIXTEENTH 

Ponder  on  the  entire  past 
Laid  together  thus  at  last. 

THE  FLIGHT  OF  THE  DUCHESS 

DECEMBER  SEVENTEENTH 

Time  fleets  how  fast!  and  opportunity,  the  irre- 
vocable, once  flown,  will  flout  him. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

[73  ] 


PIPPA  PASSES 


DECEMBER  EIGHTEENTH 

Let  me  and  you  be  wipers  of  scores  out  with  all 
men. 

THE  PIED   PIPER  OF  HAMELIN 

DECEMBER  NINETEENTH 

Have  you  no  assurance  that,  earth  at  end, 
Wrong  will  prove  right?  Who  made  shall  mend 
In  higher  sphere  to  which  yearnings  tend  ? 


DECEMBER  TWENTIETH 

Better  have  failed  in  the  high  aim,  as  I, 
Than  vulgarly  in  the  low  aim  succeed. 

THE  INN   ALBUM 

DECEMBER  TWENTY-FIRST 

No,  I  have  light,  nor  fear  the  dark  at  all. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

DECEMBER  TWENTY-SECOND 

I  have  lived,  then,  done  and  suffered, 
Loved  and  hated,  learnt  and  taught. 

LA  SAISIAZ 

DECEMBER  TWENTY-THIRD 

Such  save  the  world  which  none  but  they  could  save, 
Yet  think  whate'er  they  did,  that  world  could  do. 


[  74] 


DECEMBER  TWENTY-FOURTH 

I  never  realised  God's  birth  before  — 
How  he  grew  likest  God  in  being  born. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

DECEMBER  TWENTY-FIFTH 

Festive  bells — everywhere  the  Feast  of  the  Babe; 
Joy  upon  earth,  peace  and  good  will  to  man. 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

DECEMBER  TWENTY-SIXTH 

Firm  like  my  first  fail  to  stand  on  "God  there  is, 
and  soul  there  is." 

LA  SAISIAZ 

DECEMBER  TWENTY-SEVENTH 

For  sudden  the  worst  turns  the  best  to  the  brave, 
The  black  minute 's  at  end. 

PROSPICE 

DECEMBER  TWENTY-EIGHTH 
A  certain  stage 
At  least  I  reach,  or  dream  I  reach,  where  I  discern 
Truer  truths,  laws  behold  more  lawlike  than  we 
learn. 

DRAMATIC  IDYLS 

DECEMBER  TWENTY-NINTH 

He  came  but  to  forgive,  and  to  bring  to  life: 
Doubt  ye  the  force  of  Christmas  on  the  soul  ? 

THE  RING  AND  THE  BOOK 

[75  1 


DECEMBER  THIRTIETH 

For  the  journey  is  done  and  the  summit  attained, 
And  the  barriers  fall. 


DECEMBER  THIRTY-FIRST 

But  deep  within  my  heart  of  hearts  there  hid 

Ever  the  confidence,  amends  for  all, 

That  heaven  repairs  w^hat  w^rong  earth's  journey 

did, 
When  love  from  life-long  exile  comes  at  call. 

BIFURCATION 


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